Beston Chambeshi says Nkana is a very big team to be scared of high-scoring Simba SC of Tanzania whom they host on Saturday in a 2018/2019 CAF Champions League pre-group stage first leg match at Nkana Stadium in Kitwe.
Simba date Nkana after an 8-1 aggregate win over Mbabane Swallows of eSwatini that saw Chipolopolo midfielder score once goal in the 4-1 home and a brace in the final leg in Manzini.
Nkana too are unbeaten in the early stages of the campaign following a 2-1 away and 1-0 home win over UD Songo of Mozambique.
“I am not worried that they scored eight goals but they didn’t qualify to the group stage. You can score one goal and go to the group stage; so what we need is a plan for our team, we don’t fear that margin they scored,” Chambeshi said.
“We are at home, so we won’t sit back and let them score, it will be punch-for -punch and for sure I have the confidence in the team, in the strikers that we have and in the whole team.”
Nkana have eliminated Simba in all their last three meetings although both sides have gone on to win their respective home ties.
And Chambeshi added that he was not having sleepless nights over midfielder Chama’s presence in the Simba team.
“Chama is a good player and one good thing he is from Zambia, so I don’t think he has changed his type of play,” Chambeshi said.
“He is a Zambian player, so all that we need to do is play our cards right and we won’t say that we will assign anyone to mark him but play our system.”
The return leg is set for December 22 in Dar es Salaam and the winner over both legs will qualify to the group stage of the competition that kicks off in January while the loser will be relegated to next months pre-group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup.
ZAMBIAN CLUBS CAF INTER CLUB FIXTURES
2018/2019 CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 1ST LEG PRE GROUP
STAGE
15/12/2018
Nkana Stadium, Kitwe
15h00: Nkana- Simba SC (Tanzania)
16/12/2018
Lubumbashi, DR Congo
15h30:TP Mazembe-Zesco United
-2018/2019 CAF CONFEDERATION CUP 1ST LEG SECOND ROUND
15/12/2018
Nkoloma Stadium, Lusaka
15h00:Green Eagles-NASR Hussein Dey (Algeria)
Sfax,Tunisia
19h30:CS Sfaxien-Green Buffaloes
“ONLY HH has the solutions for all Zambia’s problems including Nkana’s!” Larry Mweetwa.
This is a nerve taking fixture, if weather permits and riot police stay away, then match between Nkana vs Simba will be a cracker!